Washington Irving was born on April 3, 1783 in Tarrytown, New York. His father was a merchant and owned an import business. Irving had literary influences early in his life. He was friends with Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Charles Dickens. Washington Irving had no formal schooling. Instead, he taught himself by reading as many books as possible.

Washington Irving had other interests than just writing. Irving was an inventor. He invented ice drinks and the dumb waiter. Irving was also an entrepreneur. 'Early in his life Irving planned to follow his father's footsteps in the family business.' (p. 187)

Irving had many writings in his literary career. His works include The Sketchbook, A History of New York, The Devil and Tom Walker, and Rip Van Winkle. Despite all of these well known works, Irving never won any awards. Irving's short stories are The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and The Devil and Tom Walker.

The Devil and Tom Walker (1856)

English: Cloth Covered, Hard Bound Book, the Legen...

Ichabod pursued by the Headless Horseman

The first semblance in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and The Devil and Tom Walker is that nature proves to be a problem to the characters. In The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the hollow is the setting for fear in Icabod's tall tales. Irving reflected on the dark setting many times in this story. 'The swamp was thickly grown with great gloomy pines and hemlocks.' (Washington Irving. p. 57) In The Devil and Tom Walker, the setting is portrayed in the same dark manner. It is the forest where Tom Walker meets the Devil.

Another similarity in both of the 'short stories' is that a supernatural figure is the terror of each story. The supernatural being in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is the Headless Horsemen. To the people of Tarrytown, the story of the Headless Horsemen is that he was a...

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